Appeasement Of Terror: 75-Years-Ago In Tiberias--Today in the White House

Three Victims of the Massacre -Deborah,Rebecca and Haya Mizrahi

Tiberius is one of my favorite cities in Israel. It was the home of many Great Rabbis who lived in or were buried in there. The Sanhedrin, the famous Jewish court, fled from Jerusalem during the Great Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire, and after several moves eventually settled in Tiberias. Many scholars believe that the Mishna and the Jerusalem Talmud was compiled in by  Rabbi Judah haNasi in Tiberias. It is also the location of my favorite Chinese Restaurant in all of Israel, Pagoda.

One part of Tiberias history occurred 75 years ago this week. On October 2 1938, an organized groups of Arab attackers massacred 21 Jews three of the victims were women and ten were kids

younger than twelve.  The victims were stabbed shot and burned.

The New York Times described the brutal rampage:

Not since the riots of 1929, when Arabs fell on Jewish men, most of whom were rabbinical students, as well as women and children, in the ancient towns of Hebron and Safed, has there been in Palestine such a slaughter as the attack of last night. The main synagogue of the town was destroyed by fire, and the district offices, the police station and the British police billet were fired on.

The attack apparently was well organized, since the Arab gang, before descending on Tiberias, cut all telephone communications. Coming in two parties from opposite directions at a given signal, which was a whistle blown from the hills surrounding the town, the firing began simultaneously in all quarters...

...The bandits rushed to the central synagogue and, finding there a beadle named Jacob Zaltz, killed him and then set the building afire...

...the Arabs broke in and stabbed and burned to death Mr. Kabin [an elderly American Jew who had recently come to Palestine] and his sister...

From there the bandits went on to the house of Joshua Ben Arieh, where they stabbed and burned to death Joshua, his wife and one son, and then shot dead his infant son. In the same house three children of Shlomo Leimer, aged 8, 10, and 12, were stabbed and burned to death. Proceeding farther, the Arabs broke into the house of Shimon Mizrahi, where they killed his wife and five children, ranging in ages from 1 to 12 years, and then set fire to the house.... [New York Times, Oct. 4, 1938]

Three weeks later (Oct. 27th) Tiberian Arabs murdered the Jewish mayor, Isaac Zaki Alhadif.

The Tiberias massacre was part of three years of terrorism conducted by the Arabs living in or near the holy land.  There was no Israel, no disputed territories, just some communities of Jews, many of which housed people who had been living in the land for generations.

Rather than put down the violence, the British Government decided to appease the terrorists with a British White Paper limiting Jewish immigration into Palestine just as Hitler was beginning his final solution. As a result, the British Government sentenced many Jews to death at the hands of the Nazis.

The attitude of the British and indeed most of the western world toward Arab terror hasn't changed in the intervening 75 years. The political parts of Hamas and Hezbollah are recognized by the EU, the President recognizes the Muslim Brotherhood as a legitimate political organization, CAIR the child of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood is covered as legitimate by the media.

Perhaps its no coincidence that the 75th anniversary if this massacre occurs the same week President Obama rewarded the terrorist funding Iran with a phone call based on unsubstantiated promises to moderate.

Iranian forces are taking part in the massacre of innocent civilians in Syria against the policy of Obama's administration and still supports terrorism throughout the world. Iran which still refuses to comply with nuclear treaties it signed or UN Security Counsel resolution. Ignoring the facts,  this President has appeased this terrorist power with a phone call and promises of detente.

This was not the first time this President has appeased terrorists (just ask the families of the four people killed in the Benghazi attack). Sadly It probably won't be the last.

Seventy-five years later the world still hasn't learned the lesson of appeasing terrorists. That appeasement of terror legitimizes the evil and instructs the terrorists that their murderous methods work.

May the memories of those slain in Tiberias 75 years ago always be for a blessing. And may the President of the United States realize the error of his appeasing ways.

The Memorial to Victims of The Tiberias Massacre